Health chief,hospital to pay Rs 2 lakh for medical negligence

The two parties have also been told to pay Rs 40,900 as cost of litigation to the Sector 21 resident,whose foetus,which was dead at 26-weeks,went unnoticed by the doctors,leading to skin allergies and infections.

Vibha Aggarwal,who was visiting the civil hospital from the first month of her pregnancy in December 2012 for antenatal check-ups,complained about stoppage of growth of the foetus after 23 weeks. She said that despite complaints,the doctors at the gynaecology department found the pregnancy normal and offered no treatment for foetal growth.

Vibha said when she complained repeatedly about infection,allergies and severe stomach pain,no ultrasound was conducted,even though doctors observed that the foetus had not grown. She was instead sent to the skin department when she reported rashes after 33 weeks of pregnancy,without conducting any tests on her womb.

Finding the doctors at the civil hospital negligent,she then approached Government Medical College and Hospital,Sector 32,where finally an ultrasound was conducted and it was found that the foetus had crimped. She then went to a private nursing home where she learnt that the Sector 22 hospital had never brought to her knowledge that her baby was not growing in the uterus as even at 33 weeks the growth of the foetus growth was

that of 26 weeks.

After removing the dead foetus,a lot of fungus was also removed from the patient’s body. The forum held the respondents responsible for the death of the foetus.

Since there was no proper investigation and doctors did not conduct an ultrasound on time the consumer forum said it was a case of medical negligence and amounted to deficiency in service.